Caffrey constantly molding artistic business

Carolyn Caffrey, owner of Paintin’ Pottery in De Pere, has been successful despite starting a business with the motive of working less hours.

After graduating with a marketing degree, she spent years working in sales, retail distribution, design and display work. The hours were long and inflexible.

“I was married and needed something where I could work and also raise a family. My husband traveled a lot and I needed to manage my own hours while keeping a business as a business and not a hobby,” Caffrey said.

Having always been a creative person, she heard that an existing business, Paintin’ Pottery, was going out of business. Beading projects were the trend, and she saw an opportunity to keep the pottery part of the business alive and add a bead store. The business was renamed “Paintin’ Pottery and Bead It.”

That was 2002. She updated the small space, and said she basically started the business over from scratch. While keeping flexible hours, the business grew.

“In 2002, we did pottery and beads, just those two things," Caffrey said. "The next year, I added mosaics and clay. An adjacent dance studio left and I expanded. Then, I put in a clay studio with pottery wheels and had classes.”

The expansion and fine-tuning of her business model continued. In 2008, she purchased the building and remodeled the garage for the clay studio. Additional space was available for lease, and she found one of her greatest challenges yet — that of landlord.

Although the space had unique character, Caffrey had purchased the building just as the recession was taking hold. There were spaces for lease all over, and she had a difficult time filling space. She needed the income in order to pay the mortgage.

“I had a lot to learn about what to charge in rent and why. There was an artist renting space upstairs but the rent was too low and knew I needed to up the ante. I sanded floors and remodeled the space to make it more attractive for tenants,” she said.

But with the building needing a new roof and parking lot, debt was mounting. About this time, she went to SCORE for assistance with the financials and leasing.

“I took the advice and said, ‘I’m going to make it,’" Caffrey said. "I got good tenants, increased rent to a market rate, used social media for marketing and continued to make changes in the business.”

Caffrey’s discipline and ability to monitor artistic trends paid off. The business is a continuous work in progress with new programs added while other areas are discontinued. Clay classes and the bead store were areas that didn’t survive.

“We got rid of beads because they were viable to a point, but over the years, craft stores started carrying beads — not the same quality — but people will gravitate toward the cheaper product,” she said.

Beads are still used in some projects, but the majority of the inventory was sold to make space for new areas. Much more than pottery, Caffrey also offers board and canvas art, wine glass painting, mosaics, glass fusing and other projects on a walk-in basis. Customers can schedule birthday, bachelor and other parties. There are workshops, fundraisers, and summer camps for kids.

To add to the artistic feel, Caffrey has created a trendy ambiance that she says is a “shabby grunge” look. There is also a small café.

“We sell a lot of smoothies, lattes and coffee. It makes people happy and adds to the experience,” Caffrey said. “At first I had some products that weren’t working and had to let go of those things. When something doesn’t work, you have to be able to change and do something different. That’s what will make your business a success.”

Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.